Wake Up Folio mini case for the small Apple iPad

Recently we have seen an increasing amount of tablet PCs that are around the 7-inch mark in size, and this has included the popular iPad mini. The product like many from Apple has sold in the bucket load, and in turn we have seen the amount of accessories increase recently, and today we have the Wake Up Folio mini case for the small Apple iPad.

The company Cooler Master has announced the availability of the Wake Up Folio case for the Apple iPad mini, which completely protects the device with a carbon texture on the back as well as protecting the display of the iPad mini.
There is an inlay that will protect the tablet PC in every situation, and when closed will stop the display from getting damaged, and will also function as a stand when opened up. The Folio case can be folded in two different ways that adds three different angles of use for the iPad mini, and when opened up the case will wake the iPad mini or put it to sleep when closed again.
When the iPad mini is inside the Wake Up Folio mini case all the functions and ports are easily accessible, and the case is available in Golden Bronze, Midnight Black, and Silver White colour options.
Despite the attractive design and features the recommended retail price of the Wake Up Folio mini case is only £29.99, and the case is only available to iPad mini users in Europe. For more information and images head over to the Cooler Master website here.
Do you like the look of the Wake Up Folio mini case?

Buy UK BlackBerry Z10 via Phones 4 U & Vodafone

Yesterday we finally got to see officially the new BlackBerry 10 operating system along with the new handsets that will be launching running the software. The BlackBerry Z10 has grabbed most of the headlines and UK residents can buy the handset via Phones 4U and Vodafone and we have some more pricing for you.

Soon after yesterdays showcase we gave you some early pricing for the Z10 in the UK, and now we have some more details for you after being contacted by retailer Phones 4U and carrier Vodafone. The BlackBerry Z10 is available from today on Vodafone both in store and online, as well as via the company’s telesales and starts at £29 when taken with the Red Data plan that costs £42 a month.
This comes with 2GB of data downloads with unlimited talk time and SMS texts, or the handset can be picked up free on the £47 a month Red Data plan with the same amount of allowances. For £69 the handset can be had on a £37 per month plan that again offers unlimited calls and texts with 1GB of data.
Also all new and upgrading customers on pay monthly plans can get unlimited data for the first three months via the Vodafone Data Test Drive. There are also some deals for small business users that can get the Z10 for free for £40.83 (ex VAT), and for more information on this click here.
The carrier is also offering customer’s information on their upcoming 4G services as the Z10 is Vodafone’s first 4G ready smartphone, and they will be advised when the service will be available in their area after purchasing the Z10. For more information on Vodafone’s deals click here.
Meanwhile retailer Phones 4U has exclusive access to the white BlackBerry Z10 that is now available online and in its stores with the black model, and is available free from £36 a month contracts on a number of different carriers. The store is also offering a free 64GB BlackBerry PlayBook on £36 a month and above tariffs. For more information on Phones 4U deals click here.

BlackBerry World UK Faith Loss against App Store

New research from the UK’s leading discount site has revealed that the majority of Britons don’t think that the new and improved ‘BlackBerry World’, where users can download apps on the new operating system BB10, will be a patch on Apple’s app store.

It would appear that Britons have lost faith in BlackBerry, as a new survey has revealed that 67% of mobile phone owners in the UK don’t think that the new BlackBerry 10 operating system will rival Apple’s iPhone, particularly when it comes to downloading apps. The survey, conducted by MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, polled a total of 2,196 Smartphone owners ahead of the launch of the new BlackBerry operating system, based on reports of its features; asking questions surrounding the revamped Blackberry World store.
Respondents were initially asked whether they thought that the revamped ‘BlackBerry World’ would be an equal rival to Apple’s app store, to which the majority, 67% of respondents said ‘no’.
When asked why they thought that was the case, the majority, 44% explained that they thought that people had ‘lost faith’ in BlackBerry, whilst 21% said that they thought that BlackBerry would ‘struggle to produce anything as good as the iPhone’s App store’. 33% explained that they thought the sheer number of apps available for iPhone wouldn’t be able to be matched by BlackBerry World in volume.
However, a third, 34% of those polled said that they used a BlackBerry, and 26% of those respondents said that they would upgrade to the newest handset when it comes out – Of the 66% polled that didn’t have a BlackBerry, 18% said they would choose one as their handset when they were next offered an upgrade/ able to purchase a new phone. When asked why, the majority, 56%, explained that they ‘liked the rumoured facilities that the phone offered’, whilst 21% were simply ‘fed up’ of their current Smartphone manufacturer.
Mark Pearson, Chairman of MyVoucherCodes.co.uk, had the following to say about the results:
“Whilst it was unsurprising to find out that the majority of people don’t think that the new BlackBerry World store could rival Apple’s, it was interesting to find out that almost a fifth of those that don’t have a BlackBerry are considering switching to a BlackBerry handset when they upgrade.”
He continued:
“It will be interesting to see how the new BlackBerry will compete with the other well-established phones on the market. It does seem like this is a bit of a last hurrah for the brand, as the success of the new handsets could be make or break for the company.”

Android JXD-S7300 Gamepad2 for gaming junkies

The Android platform is seeing some great gaming titles being released that take advantage of the more powerful internal specifications that are on offer inside our smartphones. We are also seeing a number of standalone Android hardware surfacing that allows users to download titles direct to a device away from their smartphones, and this can certainly be said of the Android JXD-S7300 Gamepad2 that is ideal for gaming junkies.

In recent times we have seen a variety of Android hardware that has been designed with Android gamers in mind, and this goes back as far as last year with the Archos GamePad or more recently with the Nvidia Project Shield. Now we have news of another device called the JXD-S7300 Gamepad2 that runs on the Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean operating system.
Game emulators are loved by many gamers and we recently told you about the RetroArch Android application, and the Gamepad2 comes pre-installed with nine emulators that include the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation one, Sega Mega Drive, Capcom Play System 1 and 2, Neo Geo, Famicon, and Super Famicon.
The device uses a seven inch display with a resolution of 1024 x 600 powered by a dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1.5GHz and a Mali-400 MP2 GPU. There is also 1GB of RAM, 8GB of storage that is expandable via microSD card, USB port, HDMI output, front facing camera, Ethernet port, and Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity.
Users can personalize the keys for any game that they are playing and there is even a Superuser application for easier rooting, and you can get this in either black or white for only $165.99 from here. Check out the video below and tell us what you think of the Android JXD-S7300 Gamepad2.

Vine app for iOS, waiting game for Android

We always enjoy bringing readers news of popular apps and one of these is the very hot Vine app for iOS. This has not long been released but as is so often the case Android users are still waiting for it to release at Google Play. The Vine – Make a Scene app from Vine Labs Inc., is a free social networking app that is gathering some extremely good ratings and causing rather a buzz at present on Twitter but we want to know how you feel if you are having to play the waiting game for the Android Vine app.

Vine – Make a Scene is in the news as many people are very quickly becoming hooked on this Twitter video app, which has video shots of just six seconds or less. There was no enormous splash on launch but Vine seems to be one of those apps that simply takes off, in much the same way as Instagram did and is already at number 4 in the App Store above both Google Maps and YouTube in less than a week since its launch.
Vine is a free iOS app and compatible with the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad running iOS 5.0 or later. The app has also been optimized for the iPhone 5. In a nutshell it enables users to share their lives with brief looping videos for loved ones to see.
Features include unlimited uploads and the option to share to Twitter and Facebook. Users can also interact with others, look at trending posts, and also see editor’s picks and featured hashtags. The latest iOS app update (version 1.0.4) came two days ago, bringing some bug and crash fixes and there appears to be some great support for this app so far.
You can download the iOS Vine app free at iTunes here. Are you hoping that the Vine app becomes available real soon for the Android platform at Google Play? Do you get a little fed up at the fact that so many apps seem to reach popularity on the iOS platform first before they finally get to Android devices? Let us know with your comments.

Cate app update for Android

As well as bringing you device news we try to give you details on some of the best or most popular apps out there and today we want to give you details of the CATE | Call and Text Eraser app, which was updated yesterday to version 4.4. This social app is designed for privacy and security needs and enables users to keep secrets with plenty of useful features, although we can only imagine what people are using the app for!

The Android app is available from Google Play and has a ton of features such as call blocking, secret numbers, text blocking and filtering, hidden icons, picture blocking and filtering, the ability to make calls, SMS and MMS within the app and a stealth mode. CATE also offers an unlimited number of blacklist contacts, can add contacts from address books, retrieve calls when convenient and has auto reply SMS.
When idle the app will minimize and you can also minimize the app by shaking plus there’s a text log within CATE along with automatic or manual syncing. The CATE app is available from Google Play here priced at $4.99 (maybe this week only) and is suitable for devices running Android 2.1 or later. You can also find the official site for the developers here.
We have noticed that after previous updates some issues such as freezing have appeared, or calls are getting through that shouldn’t be or maybe call records aren’t deleted. We wonder therefore if you have noticed any problems since the CATE update or if everything has gone beautifully smoothly for you? Let us have your comments on this.

BlackBerry Q10 and Z10: Full Touchscreen vs physical keyboard

Yesterday BlackBerry, formerly RIM, showcased its new BlackBerry 10 operating system and in the process unveiled the first two handsets that will be available on the new platform. This came in the shape of the BlackBerry Q10 and the much leaked Z10 with its full touchscreen vs the physical QWERTY keyboard of the other handset.

The BlackBerry Z10 is obviously the flagship handset on the platform, but BlackBerry has stayed true to its roots by providing a physical QWERTY keyboard on the BlackBerry Q10. The Z10 comes packed with a dual core processor powering a 4.2-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280 x 768, and a 356ppi pixel density.
As we have already told you consumers in the UK can purchase the device from the likes of Vodafone or Phone4U, but US consumers have to wait until March to get their hands on the device. This compares to the BlackBerry Q10 that also uses a 1.5GHz dual core processor but this comes with a QWERTY keyboard that the company says is the widest it has provided so far.
This comes paired with a 3.1-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with a 720 x 720 resolution, and also 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage. For those that want a new BlackBerry 10 device the main decision will be whether they want a full touchscreen or a handset with a physical keyboard as well.
At the showcase yesterday the company did show off some clever features of the BlackBerry Z10 keyboard to try and make things easier for users when using it, but there are still many smartphone users that prefer physical keys when typing out emails or SMS messages.
So what do you prefer the full touchscreen of the Z10 or the physical keyboard of the BlackBerry Q10?